CII rejects bills on women rights protection | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

CII rejects bills on women rights protection

Pakistan Press Foundation

ISLAMABAD – Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) in its formal reply to the governments of Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa and Punjab has rejected the women rights bills of both the provinces saying the same are repugnant to the Islamic injunctions and would rip apart the strong family system in society.

In its written reply to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa government CII listed some 33 clauses of the women protection bill in sheer violation of the Islamic injunctions and offered the government that CII could prepare an alternate draft for protection of women rights on request.

While in reply to the letter of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah the council said that it would have been better had the Punjab Government approached the council before passing the bill from provincial legislature. A number of flaws and lacunae in the bill passed by the Punjab Assembly were pointed out in the reply which if implemented in its present shape would destroy the very fabric of society.

It was further pointed out in the letter that keeping husband away from house in case of clash between the couple have no Islamic, legal and moral justification while in the bill adopted by the Punjab Assembly the state was empowered to interfere in the family affairs which is in sheer violation of basic human rights enshrined in the constitution, adding that Islam strictly prohibits interference in the family matters of a couple.

Ordering fixing tracker system to keep the husband away from the house in case of a clash with spouse itself has no social, moral or legal justification and would result in the complete ruining of the family structure in the society, it was further stated in the letter addressed to Punjab Law Minister. In the reply to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa government CII offered to prepare an alternate draft for protection of women’s rights on request completely rejected the draft bill for rights of women. In all some 33 clauses of the bill were declared in violation of Islamic injunctions.

Elaborating some of the major flaws in the bill, CII in its reply to the KPK government said that in the bill the definition of child is incorrect as the boy or girl who has attained the age of 18 remain no more child.

Similarly, extraordinary powers are delegated to Women Protection Commission even seemed hovering over the Parliament and the judiciary.

While drafting the bill the family system and relations of family members were not taken into account which would result in the complete chaos in the society and would ruin the whole social fabric of the society.

It was further stated that both these bills were drafted under the influence of civil society and proper input of jurists and religious scholars was not taken.
The council chairman Moulana Mohammad Khan Shirani had a couple of weeks back rejected both these bills terming them negation to the Islamic injunctions and Constitution of Pakistan. He further pointed out that without the approval of the CII no bill could be passed either from federal or provincial legislatures.
It is pertinent to mention here that religious parties across the country had already rejected both these bills and owing to the mounting pressure from the religious forces Punjab Government had halted the notification of the Women Protection Law from Governor.

Right now a committee comprising the legal and religious leaders was constituted by the Punjab Government to review the bill with the aim to make it acceptable for the religious parties.

The Nation

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